Abstract
Background: Depression is a primary cause of disability-adjusted life years lost globally. It is a common mental disorder with roughly more than 264 million adults affected. Obesity is another major health problem affecting more than 650 million adults worldwide. The presence of depression and obesity, along with each other, is associated with more negative health outcomes.Objectives: To explore the correlation between depression and obesity among adults in the Eastern Province of Saudi Arabia and analyze this association with other variables, including patients' demographics, body mass index (BMI), and presence of chronic and psychiatric illness. Method: A cross-sectional study was done in the Eastern Province, Saudi Arabia. A total number of 711 participants were enrolled. Arabic version of Patient Health Questionnaire 9 (PHQ-9) was used. Body mass index (BMI) scores were used to classify participants into underweight, average weight, overweight, and obese.Result: It was found that 41.7% of the obese participants have moderate to severe depression, and this result was statistically significant (P = 0.027, 95% CI 1.69-1.98). The prevalence was more marked among young participants (P = 0.001). Other variables such as marital status, the presence of a chronic illness, psychiatric disorders, regular intake of medications, effect of depressive symptoms on daily activity, and the number of years diagnosed with obesity and depression all showed a statistically significant association in the presence of comorbidity of obesity and depression (P < 0.05).Conclusion: The association between depression and obesity is most prominent in young adults aged between 18 to 25 years (11.2%), being single (12.8%), having a BMI of 30 or more for 10 years or more (45.4%), the presence of associated chronic illnesses (17.6%), the presence of associated psychiatric disorder (18.3%) and intake of regular medications (18.3%). Depression and obesity are major health challenges worldwide. Many studies were done to assess the relationship between obesity and depression, but only a few were conducted in Saudi Arabia. This study was done to investigate this relationship. It will help raise awareness about the comorbidity of depression and obesity to address preventative and therapeutic measures.
Highlights
World Health Organization (WHO) stated that depression in both genders is a primary cause of disabilityadjusted life years lost globally
The participants had a different level of education, but most of them were at the university level or above, accounting for 79.5% of all participants
We found that the group with depression and obesity is more likely to take medications regularly (18.3%) than those who don’t take regular medications (9.6%)
Summary
World Health Organization (WHO) stated that depression in both genders is a primary cause of disabilityadjusted life years lost globally. It is a common mental disorder affecting more than 264 million people. Depressive episodes are mainly present with sadness, loss of interest, and lack of pleasure [1] Another major health problem in modern societies is obesity, affecting more than 650 million adults worldwide. Depression is a primary cause of disability-adjusted life years lost globally. It is a common mental disorder with roughly more than 264 million adults affected. The presence of depression and obesity, along with each other, is associated with more negative health outcomes
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